This Saturday, Apr. 20th, the Hamilton Sustainability Coordinators (HSC) kicked off their first-ever Green Week. This week coincides with Earth Day on Monday, Apr. 22nd and was created as a “celebration of our beautiful planet,” according to the Green Week official calendar. HSC hopes to highlight the focus on sustainability and environmentalism that Earth Day brings for one day and extend it into an entire week.
The week started with a farmers market featuring locally-sourced mushrooms, fresh honey, and local ice cream sellers along with student tables, which were focused on recycling and sustainability education. Student Assembly Sustainability Liaison Mike Mubarak ’21 said that “the idea behind the farmers market was to encourage students to buy food locally and to encourage that culture for when students leave Hamilton.” Although it is “difficult to get off campus” and buy local food, Mubarak feels that the farmers market can “set the standard” for student food habits.
The weekend continued with a field trip to Rogers Environmental Education Center for outdoor yoga Sunday morning, followed by reforesting a large section of Hamilton’s golf course. Around 30 students participated in this reforesting effort and planted over 400 trees in an older section of the course in the hopes of making Hamilton a more carbon-neutral campus.
On the replanting effort, Mubarak said, “When we do have big events like this we do have big turnouts and we’re really happy for that […] but it’s really everyday practices that we’re trying to get people to improve on.”
Composting, recycling, shorter showers, eating less meat, and turning the lights off when you leave the room are some of these everyday practices that HSC encourages. Composting will be a focus in the coming months as the College recently signed a deal with the Solid Waste Authority, which will extract methane from compost to burn as a natural gas that powers a nearby recycling facility.
Green Week continued with Earth Day celebrations on monday and 25 percent-off drinkware at the College’s Bookstore with the goal of prompting students to use less paper and plastic cups. HSC encourages the community to use reusable drinkware as a means of reducing waste.
On Tuesday, HSC hosted a discussion in Commons and an environmentally-themed trivia night in the Little Pub. These discussions helped students understand more about Hamilton’s sustainability practices and the College’s environmental outlook.
On Wednesday, HSC worked with students to measure Hamilton’s waste per day. This number was calculated by food waste from Commons and McEwen between 11 AM and 1 PM. The data gathered can be used to set a variety of benchmarks for waste and is helpful when analyzing Hamilton’s environmental impact.
Later in the day, HSC hosted a panel titled “The Road Ahead for Climate Action in New York.” The panel discussed ways that students can get involved in pushing for climate reform and justice in New York State. This is especially relevant with the New York State Legislature currently debating different environmental bills and initiatives.
Another panel led by students will take place on Thursday, Apr. 25 and will focus on how race and identity relate to environmental issues. Later that day, HSC and Hamilton Environmental Action Group will host a letter-writing campaign for the New York State legislature.
Green Week will conclude with a walk in Rogers Glen, which was improved over the summer. According to Mubarak, the Glen was “a dump” before the cleanup and adds that HSC wants to show students all the work that has been done.
Ultimately, Mubarak says HSC hopes that Green Week can show students “how small things can have a huge impact […] in order to create an environment of awareness and thoughtfulness towards the environment.”
